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Friday, July 3, 2015

Spy (2015) - Review

In a time when spy movies are serious action films, (ie. James Bond series, Mission: Impossible, and the Bourne series), it's refreshing to see a comedic take on the genre. Spy mixes the great action beats of a serious spy film with great comedy and witty banter between it's characters.

Spy follows a CIA analyst who volunteers to go undercover to stop an arms deal and prevent global disaster. I was very surprised by how much I actually enjoyed this film. Before going into the theater, I hadn't seen the trailer. The only impression I had was the poster above, which, in my opinion, does nothing for the film. In fact, it made me think the film would be kind of stupid. But it wasn't.

Directed by comedic veteran Paul Feig, Spy has a perfect mixture of action and comedy. This also marks the third film he has done with Melissa McCarthy, following 2011's Bridesmaids and 2013's The Heat, both of which were made for around $40 million and grossed over $200 million.

Leading this film was funny woman, Melissa McCarthy, who shined in this role. This is, so far, my favorite of her films. She showed an ability to not only be funny, but play an action role as well. Also in this film is the talented Rose Byrne (Neighbors, Insidious) who plays the devilish Rayna. The banter between the two of them is priceless. McCarthy also managed to have hilarious dialogue with action veteran, Jason Statham (Transporter, Crank), playing Rick Ford. We also saw Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes, Contagion) as Bradley Fine, Miranda Hart as Nancy, and Morena Baccarin (Firefly) as Karen Walker.

Spy had great action sequences, hilarious dialogue, and really showed what it means to be an action-comedy. McCarthy, Statham, and Byrne were the best parts of this film. Anytime they had dialogue with one another, I cracked up.

Miranda Hart's lines were somewhat hit-or-miss, and Jude Law was kind of dry, outside of the opening scene. I also felt like Morena Baccarin's character was a bit of a throw away character and could've been played by anyone.

If you're looking for a good laugh and some sweet action, then check out Spy while you still can. It's worth the watch.